Review History for tinderlovingflint

Aventura Falcon Valley


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tinderlovingflint

Resident 2012 - 2013

5/2/2013

My husband and I moved in here right after we were married because the location was close to his work and my school and the rent was a good deal at the time. Here's the breakdown of our experiences: Layout, Construction, and Usability: We live on the first floor, in a one-bed, one-bath apartment. Godzilla and his wife live above us, stomping around and slamming doors at all hours of the day and night. Mr. and Mrs. Happy Ending live next door with their howling dog, and we have been privy to many of their arguments and *ahem* make-ups. Chalk it up to apartment living--you may not ever learn your neighbors' names, but you will get to know them very well through the thin walls. The layout of the apartment makes it look very spacious..when it's empty. The bar separating the kitchen from the living room to too tall to eat at, even using the tallest manufactured bar stools. So don't plan on eating there to make up for the lack of room for a table. Currently, my husband and I use a caf style, two-person table (like the ones you might find at Starbucks) as our dinner table; it's the only style of table that will fit in a living room with a couch and television. Next, beware, the carpets are very cheap, construction-grade CREAM-COLORED carpet. You look at the carpet funny and it will get dirty. Normal traffic will make it look like you've dumped a bag of potting soil in the middle of the carpet (and rubbed it in for good measure). I HIGHLY recommend throw rugs, or you will kiss your deposit good-bye within a couple of months. We definitely are not expecting to get our's back. The windows and doors leak like a sieve, so expect your electricity bill to double in the winter (as a point of reference, we keep our thermostat at 66F in the winter and it still doubled--our most expensive bill was $164 for February). You can see daylight where our backdoor meets the doorframe, which not only lets in the cold air, but the lovely little red ants in the spring. The back door doesn't stay shut unless you deadbolt it (due to the crooked doorframes and ceiling), and the front door lets in a significant draft from underneath it. As the weather has become warmer, we have also discovered that the screens are not flush with the window frame, letting in a host of lake-breed mosquitoes when the windows are open. The bathroom is very long and skinny with a significant countertop for only one sink. The layout of this room ends up being a horrible waste of space, since the countertop could have easily been halved into a still spacious bathroom. I would have rather the builders given us more room in the kitchen for a table rather than a super long bathroom. But, like I said, you will be impressed with the size when you first see it. The apartment does have a stacked washer and dryer in a closet between the bathroom and the water heater closet. They are a good size and don't make too much noise when the door is shut. The kitchen has ample cabinet space and a pantry, though not a lot of countertop space. Everything is electric and if anything starts to break or make a funny noise, the maintenance guys are really great and quick in fixing it. The flooring is fo-wood laminate. The closets are the best thing about this apartment. We have a pantry, and outdoor storage closet, a linen closet, and a magnificent bedroom closet. To put it in perspective, the bedroom closet is wide enough to put a bookshelf against the back wall for ever more storage. The bedroom is also quite big, easily fitting our queen-sized bed, two corner bookshelves that we used as end tables, a dress w/ mirror, and an office desk w/ hutch. The tall walls probably help with this, so if you are planning on moving in here, buy skinny and tall furniture (like bookshelves and upright chest of drawers) to maximize your space. Lifestyle and Safety While living here, we have never really had any problems with safety. After reading some of the other reviews, however, I realize that we were left in the dark to a lot of the thefts that were happening in the complex (if you are going to live here, you have to be on Facebook; that is the only place where the complex sends out crime updates). The only time we've ever been directly affected by shady behavior was two nights before our wedding, when my husband had some friends over for a guy's night (roughly July of 2012). When one of the friends went out to his car, he was propositioned by another gentleman who asked him if he would like to buy some crack cocaine. He said no, and was left alone, and that was the last time that guy was seen in our area. We did have a Lenexa sheriff move into the complex, so I'm sure that has probably helped with some of the crime issues. With those few exceptions aside, we've never really had any problems with safety. This complex consists of young professionals and families. Everyone has been very nice and courteous, and most people tend to mind their own business. A lot of people walk/ run by themselves, and parents let their kids play and ride their bikes within the complex. There is also a huge biking community in this area, which is a plus for my husband since he likes to ride his bike to work. When it snows, things get a little crazy because we live at the bottom of a really big hill. The complex will plow the road, but will also subsequently plow-in all the parked cars. The complex will also snow-blow off the sidewalks, but that snow also ends up on the cars rather than the yard. The office does not have any snow shovels to help you out, but a lot of the neighbors are really nice and will help you dig out your car. You are also within walking distance of Price Chopper, which tends to stay open even in the worst of the weather. Staff The staff has generally been very helpful since we moved in. They've helped us with residency applications, tax receipts, and even with the paperwork we needed to move to our next apartment complex. The head office manager can be a bit severe sometimes (especially if you leave "unsanctioned" stuff on your porch), but she runs a tight ship. Everything is kept orderly and nice. When we had a problem with a former tenant leaving a bunch of old furniture in front of our apartment door, the staff was really prompt in getting it removed. Overall The reason why we wouldn't recommend this apartment is because of the value-to-rent ratio. We moved in here because we happened to call back on a day that they were running a "special" on rent prices--so we got a good deal. But the rent, we found out after a couple of calls, changes on a daily basis, ranging from $652 to $720 for the same one bedroom apartment in the summer of 2012 (which is a little shady). The staff says that the pricing reflects the market value of the apartment, but other complexes in the area offer better value and are more upfront with their pricing and fees. Since we knew our rent would likely rise to the $720 range plus the yearly increase of about $25/mo (roughly $100-125 increase per month total), we chose to move to the newer, nicer apartments down the road (which happened to be even closer to our work and school). Overall, the Dunes was a great place to get our bearings (being new to Kansas), but we definitely were not planning to stay for more than a year given the other options in the area.
    Manager

    7/28/2023

    Aventura Falcon Valley
    Hello, We appreciate your honest feedback, as we are always looking for ways to improve. Thank you again, Aventura Falcon Valley

    Review 26 out of 53

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